Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw. One of the things that the government likes to say that is patently not true is that they really care about tackling this housing crisis. What has become clear as well is that they also like to tell people, 'Give us time.' It's easy for members of the government to say, 'Give us time,' when 75 per cent of them own property investments. It's easy for members of the government to say, 'Give us time,' when, at minimum, they're earning $200,000 a year. How long does the single mum one rent increase away from eviction have to wait? How long does the person who has been waiting 10 years to get into a public home have to wait? How long does the couple, who have been spending years trying to save up for a home only to find that house prices have increased so fast the deposit isn't enough anymore, have to wait? Why is it that in this country, in this parliament, it is always the people doing it tough who have to wait the longest? And why is it that, in this country, property developers, banks and property investors don't even have to wait a day? They don't have to wait a day.

I think people in this country are sick and tired of a political system so stacked in favour of property investors, banks and property developers. They can see it with their own eyes. They can see it in the homes that property developers leave vacant to help drive up the price of housing. They can see it in the fact that the government is dishing out $39 billion a year to property investors while refusing to spend a single extra cent on public housing. They can see it in the fact that their children are giving up on ever being able to buy a home. They can see it in the fact that tents are appearing in parks across this country. They can see it in the fact that record numbers of homeless people are being turned away from homelessness services because they don't have enough money to help people or enough homes to put them in—in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Frankly, the entire political class should be ashamed that we have overseen a system in this country where, at the same time as property investors get billions of dollars in tax handouts, this government claims it doesn't have enough money for public housing, it can't do anything about unlimited rent increases and it's not going to touch massive tax handouts for property investors.

The bottom line is this. There are five million renters in this country, and there are millions more people—like parents of those renters—right now who know that this country is manifestly unfair and stacked against them, and they are getting sick and tired of being treated like second-class citizens. Come the next election, I think this government is going to be in for a rude shock when it realises it can no longer keep putting the interests of property developers, property moguls and banks ahead of renters, first home buyers and mortgage holders. I think people are getting pretty sick and tired of it.

If you thought what happened in Brisbane in 2022 was an arbitrary thing, if you thought that, when we won Griffith, Brisbane and Ryan and when we saw massive swings to the Greens, it was just a one-off, wait till you see what happens when you go to an election and you say your platform is unlimited rent increases for renters, no more money for public housing and locking in tax handouts for property investors. When the only bill this parliament has to deal with the housing crisis this year is one that will screw over 99.8 per cent of renters and drive up house prices, let's see what happens at the next election, because I reckon people are going to be pretty fed up.

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